Dinosaur National Monument Rock Climbing

The Dinosaur National Monument is famous for being one of the best Jurassic period finds of dinosaur fossils in the world. In the Monument, there is a quarry where you can view many of the fossils. The Monument also contains the impressive Split Mountain which is cut in half by the Green River. Split Mountain looks like a labyrinth of sandstone walls which keep building on themselves to form a mountain, capped with many towers (many of which are probably unclimbed). The Monument also contains an "auto-tour" which is basically a road with a number of stops to view different features of the Monument.

As for regulations for climbing: Bjornstad mentions that a climbing permit may be required. We asked a ranger about this and her response was, "Climbing?!? You do realize that this is sandstone right? It isn't granite!" So, it didn't seem like one was needed. But it is important to keep our impact as small as possible to prevent any future problems. No power drills are allowed in the monument, and if you are going to use chalk, it would be best if you could use the colored chalk.

One last note, the ranger was right about it not being granite, the rock is soft, loose, and scary. Most of the rock is Navajo sandstone. The quality of the climbing is nothing amazing, but the beauty of the area, the seclusion, and adventure of it all make it well worthwhile to explore.